I want to hear the forum's thoughts on the main quest in Skyrim.

Preface: Before I began playing Skyrim, I was really interested in the idea that there was a civil war going on, and in the role of the Thalmor amidst this conflict. I played through the civil war quest line and promptly thought, "that's it...?" To me, the civil war came quest-line took a golden premise and did almost nothing with it. The quest writing was almost non-existent, and the end result felt like radiant story gone wild. That being said, I thought the idea had tons of potential. Skyrim in chaos, the Thalmor on the doorstep, corruption, rebellion, and the chance for some really cool decisions.

I still haven't finished the main quest line, but so far the dragonborn schtick hasn't really impressed me in its conception. The whole idea of what it means to be "dragonborn" has little in the way of backstory, leading me to wish that Beth had made the civil war the MQ and come up with a really interesting, politically driven questline.

Questions (note that these are all in terms of quality of the game, not sales)
1. Do you think Beth made the right choice making dragons the central point of the main quest?
- explain with reference to gameplay/story ie "Yes, I think Beth was right to make dragons the centerfold because it really improves gameplay where the dragons really shine"

2. Were you happy with the Civil War?
-explain, with reference to the quest line itself, overall atmosphere, backstory, execution, etc

3. In general, do you prefer the storylines to be driven by "Fantasy" themes (ex dragons, Oblivion's Daedra), or more "Human" themes (ex Politics)?
-Note that answering "human" themes wouldn't endorse removing fantastical elements from the game, as it is obviously a "fantasy" game.

4. Lastly, would you prefer the main quest to make
a) You the the destined hero and saviour (ex Dragonborn)?
You a hero of your own making (not destined)?
c) You are a supporting character in a larger plot (possibly Oblivion, but arguably not)?

I would like to know what the general forum consensus is (if there is one). This is obviously a fantasy game, so I could see the majority of people favouring the fantastical and the hero-driven. At the same time, we often hear complaints about depth, lack of choice, and the like. A story that is inherently political (leadership of Skyrim, defense/overthrow of the Empire, Thalmor conflict) could have the potential to satisfy those concerns. Did the dragonborn story satisfy you? Do you like the inclusion of shouts? Do you like their separation from the magic system? All comments appreciated.

1. Well, I would have preferred the civil war be the main quest because it actually had noticeable effects on the environment as well as more interesting characters. I also hate seeing the MQ have basically the same premise as Oblivion (Big bad enemy going to destroy the world and you're the chosen one).

2. I was happier with the war than I was with the MQ but it had its faults:
1) Too short
2) Included no large battles
3) Had effects but nothing that is too ground breaking
4) No espionage!

3. I don't care too much as long as the story is done well but I am a bigger fan of mysteries than epics

4. Considering the player has no voice I choose C but in no way should it be the disaster Oblivion was. The actual main character should go on most if not all MQ quests and have character development along the way. I would also love to see that main character affected by the player like his/her personality and some of his/her decisions. If you have read Othello I would love to see the player have a chance be both an Iago and a Cassio during the events of a story.

1) Yeah I think so, if the civil war had been the sole main quest it could have possibly been better in itself but I think there would've have been more people disappointed by such a choice mainly because a main quest without much of a fantasy element would not feel very Elder Scrolls IMO. Furthermore Dragons, especially with difficulty enhancing mods, can be some of the most exciting and challenging enemies to fight in game. I agree that there are few epic battles but tbh Elder Scrolls never does that especially well and I don't think they could've have started with the Creation Engine (I'm looking at you 'Battle of Bruma'). The saving grace of the civil war is that it feels far from over and I am hopeful that it will be continued in a DLC, with the Thalmor as the new enemy facing your faction.

2)I had mixed feelings about the civil war, they both start and end well (I imagine you know the quests I'm talking about) but in the middle it just turns into a radiant runaround, copy and paste affair unfortunately. The idea that taking over a medium sized fort would give you control of a city, especially larger ones such as Riften and Markarth is just ridiculous and stinks of being rushed.

3) First post kind of shows my feeling here, I like fantasy but also reigning it in somewhat to avoid unfortunate Oblivion 'Epic' battle comedy.

4) IMO A) and are both possible in Skyrim, I like the feeling of being the Dovahkiin and the power that comes with it but on the other hand my other characters have 'barely' become the Dovahkiin, normally as late as possible to advance Civil war quests, and have focused on other things with Dragons barely present. As such you can create your own story and hero in Skyrim. Oblivion's main quest was the low point, you were effectively an errand boy who got sent to do loads of dangerous quests with little sense of destiny or reward. Where Bethesda have room to expand is giving the player more choice not only in what they do in the world but also how they can shape the world by their decisions and possibly grab power for themselves (a la Yes Man in FONV). It's not sufficient to make the guards the sole people who have heard of your exploits, the next time Farengar recommends that I, the ARCHMAGE, should go look at the College of Winterhold I swear i'll have his soul!

There you go.

Umm... what about Whiterun and Solitude/Windhelm?

They were hardly the battles that I was hoping they would be. They were just a bunch of corridors that led to a room where you killed the enemy boss. I was hoping for more of a massive assault like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=M2DshotexMU

1: I think that it was a great choice to include the dragons. Nothing seems more terrifying and epic than an earth-shattering roar and a blast of flame coming down from the sky.

2: The only good thing about the Civil war quest was the fact that you had more than 5 characters onscreen as opposed to Oblivion where a certain city was only defended by 3 or 4 people during a huge invasion.

3: Having a mixture of both reality and fantasy is what can make a game brilliant. Human themes can make it way to serious while badly written fantasy can be catastrophic

4: I prefer a hero of my own making, it means I am not restricted to be a "Keanu Reeves" character where I feel obligated to live out 1 story repeatedly as I try out new builds for each of my new characters.

I think they could've done more with the civil war story. It was ok.

I do agree the civil war quest was... thin at best.

It had no flesh nor spirit.

It was just 'go there, kill some stormcloaks, go there, talk to him' etc.

There were no awe inspiring or chilling moments.


Also, why were there so few types of soldiers? The Empire only had Light Infantry while the Stormcloaks had standard guards.


Where are the battle mages? Where are the heavy legionnaires whom are the backbone of the Legion army? Where are the grizzled Stormcloak ex-legion veterans?

And why were the soldiers so weak you basically went around two shotting everyone?

You just made my day man!

I think that... while those look cool, they wouldn't really be fun to play.

I was thinking that there could be a huge fight going on in the background like this one while you fight either bosses or small waves of enemies to the final boss. This would at least give the illusion of a major battle rather than just lighting everything on fire and forcing you down a bunch of streets with a maximum of 5 soldiers visible at a time.